Born Giovanni Battista Montini, near Brescia, North Italy, he spent more than 25 years in the Secretariat of State under Pius XI and Pius XII before becoming Archbishop of Milan in 1954.

In 1958 he was created cardinal by pope John XXIII and in 1963 he succeeded him as pope and was crowned in St. Peter's Square, taking the name of Paul as symbolic of ecumenical unity.

His encyclical Humanae Vitae (Of Human Life, 1968), reaffirmed the Church's traditional teaching about birth control, thus following the minority report of the commission originally appointed by pope John, rather than the majority view.

There are rumors about pope Paul VI being gay, and having had some love affairs at least in his youth.